


Ours

by EarthToQuinne



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Boys In Love, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gay, Gay Antics, Idiots in Love, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Long-Distance Relationship, Long-Term Relationship(s), M/M, Moving In Together, Office Shenanigans, domestic AU, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 00:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18861778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarthToQuinne/pseuds/EarthToQuinne
Summary: Gerard is working a soul-sucking 9 to 5 desk job and looks forward to having something to come home to when Frank finally moves in with him.





	Ours

When the sun begins to rise over the city, Gerard is already dressed and heading to work with a mug of burnt coffee in his hands. He knows that his shirt is wrinkled, his tie crooked and his hair unkempt, but he doesn’t care. He’s woken up in a good mood for the first time in weeks and nothing is going to ruin it. As he walks to the bus station, he hums a happy song under his breath and watches as rays of light began to poke through the leaves of overhanging trees, outlining towering buildings in gold, painting the landscape with warmth.

Naturally, the bus is packed, so Gerard stands the whole ride to his office, sipping his coffee too fast and burning his tongue. He grips the metal pole tightly and knows that it’s going to be a busy day, inevitably, and the hours are undoubtedly going to crawl. However, he isn't thinking about work today, won’t let himself when he has much better things to daydream about. Absently, he presses the power button on his phone and gazes at his lock screen, smiling.

It’s a picture of him and Frank that they had taken while raking leaves in front of Frank’s house in New Jersey a few months ago when Gerard had visited for his birthday. They both were bundled up in beanies, sweaters, and baggy jackets, their cheeks red and flushed, smiles on their faces as they lay next to each other on the ground surrounded by a pile of leaves. Frank is looking at him with the biggest, goofiest smile on his face while Gerard gazes at the camera. It is without a doubt Gerard’s favorite picture of the two of them together and he catches himself gazing at it constantly.

He sends a quick message to Frank: _Hope your flight goes well. I miss you so much it hurts. <3 _

Frank replies almost immediately: _Have a great day, Baby! I’ll be in town by the time you get off today. I love you endlessly._

Frank then attaches a picture of his face lit up by the rising sun, his eyes blazing golden. He’s clearly exhausted yet content, though dark circles present and his hair a mess. Somehow, he still manages to look like something straight out of Gerard’s daydreams. He can’t stop smiling as he sends a goofy picture back to Frank with the caption: _And I love you more._

 **Frankie <3: ** _You’re so cute (even though you’re wrong)._

 **Gee:** _UGH. I really don’t want to go to work today. The only thing getting me through today is seeing you._

When Gerard gets to the office, the lobby is deserted. He greets the security guard at the front desk, who gives one solitary grunt in response without looking up from his paperwork. He’s running a little late, so he takes the elevator. The button sticks when he presses it so he has to jab at it exactly eight times before it lights up like it’s supposed to. When the door clangs open, the elevator is crowded with dead-eyed faces and Gerard has to cram himself right in the middle of them because they refuse to move. The silence within the confined space is so thick Gerard is afraid to breathe too loudly. He thinks about what Frank would say about their blank, zombie-like expressions, and how he would laugh, his voice filling up the tiny space. Gerard holds in his own laughter, but just barely. The woman next to him shoots him a glare, which only makes him laugh even harder.

Being the youngest person in the office has made him an outcast of sorts. It seems that his coworkers don’t exactly take kindly to someone who actually had goals and ambitions that hasn’t already been sucked out of them along with all of their energy and will to live. Gerard, like all of the other young workers hired by the local temp agency, is very clearly only here for the paycheck. He’s an artist after all and will be starting his internship at a comic book company in downtown Chicago after he graduates in May. This job is nothing more than a way for him to pay the bills. A stepping stone. But to the tired, middle-aged office workers around him, this office is their future. It’s very clear they dislike Gerard out of jealousy and assume that he thinks he’s above this position.

Yet, he still finds it hard not to succumb to the monotony of this place and let it numb him. Stepping into his workplace every day is like entering a world devoid of any color, any joy. Every sensation muted and outlined in pastel and beige, from the decor, to the food, to the people. The only speck of light and color in the drab office is Gerard’s best friend, Ray.

Immediately when Gerard gets up to the fifth floor, Ray is waiting for him at the time clock. He smiles brightly at him, relief already rushing into his stomach. Gerard catches himself still humming as he punches in his numbers and Ray looks at him with a goofy smile.

“What’s got you so cheery today, Mr. Way?”

Gerard bites his lip as they walk to their desks, Ray’s directly across from Gerard’s. “Frank’s plane is coming in at 6:00 tonight.” He does his best not to sound too excited and fails miserably.

“To visit or…?” Gerard shakes his head, unable to contain his grin. “He’s moving in?!”

Gerard nods as he sits down at his desk, so happy he doesn’t even have time to lament over the small mountain of paperwork that’s been dumped next to his keyboard. “We’ve been moving more of his stuff into my place every time he visits but this is like… the official move.”

“How come you didn’t tell me about this sooner?” Ray asks as he turns on his computer.

“I- I didn’t want to say anything until all the plans were finalized and jinx it, you know?”

“You Way men and your goddamn superstitions… Mikey is the same way. He can’t go to bed at night until he’s checked that every window is shut, every door is locked, and that there are no killer clowns hiding behind the shower curtain.”

“Growing up in Jersey will do that to you!”

“Of course, _you_ would think it’s rational.”

“Well, duh. Mikey’s my brother. I share at least 50% of his crazy.” He logs into his own computer and starts to skim through his emails, to make it look like he’s doing something productive. “How are you two doing by the way? I’ve been so caught up in planning the move I haven’t been over in a while.”

“Oh, the usual. Mikey does dumb shit and I have to stop him from accidentally killing himself. But I love him- even though it does give me incredibly high blood pressure.”

Gerard snorts and starts to really dig into his work. He makes casual conversation with Ray over the cubicle wall throughout the day, but for the most part, he focuses on the task at hand and refuses to look at the clock. Every so often he finds himself getting distracted by the framed photo on his desk.

The first thing Gerard did when he got assigned his desk was place a picture of him and Frank next to his computer. It was taken the first Christmas they spent together, in the kitchen of Gerard’s childhood home by Frank’s mother. The two of them were wearing matching Christmas sweaters and standing beneath the mistletoe, noses practically touching and grinning widely, frozen a centimeter from each other’s lips. Jeanine, the woman who sat across from Gerard, had been walking past when he pulled the frame out of his box and placed it proudly on the desk.

“Who’s that in the picture with you? Is it your brother?”

Gerard nearly laughed until he looked up and found that the woman was extremely serious. “No, it’s um... my _boyfriend_ Frank, actually,” he’d said with a polite smile.

Jeanine forced a tight, lip-glossed smile in response and said, “Ah,” coldly before quickly retreating. No more attempts for small talk were made after that. Gerard was kind of grateful for that, though he knew that Jeanine gossiped with Karen in accounting whenever he hung up a new picture of Frank or FaceTimed him during lunch breaks. It should have upset him, but he could only be amused and slightly flattered that his homosexuality was the only excitement these women got in their day-to-day lives. It helped that he had Ray there to talk shit with whenever Jeanine left the room.

12:30 comes around a lot faster than Gerard expects and much to his dismay, he’s forgotten his lunch. Again. He’s far too content with taking the walk of shame to the vending machine in the breakroom and feeding it three dollars to pay for a one dollar bag of pretzels that he’ll wash down with a lukewarm Diet Coke he’d forgotten on his desk yesterday. But Ray insists on sharing his lunch with him, so they sit in the nearly empty break room and split a turkey sandwich while Gerard texts Frank.

“So… did Mikey pack your lunch again?” Gerard teases as he nibbles on his half of the sandwich half-heartedly. He’s far too excited to really keep food down right now, but Ray is insistent that he eat something.

Ray groans. “Yes, how can you tell?”

Gerard peels the top slice of bread away and presents it to Ray with a grin. “Because the cheese slices are cut into heart shapes.”

“Damn… That’s really fucking cute,” he mumbles to himself. Gerard just laughs and takes a sip of his Coke. He suddenly becomes hyper-aware of Jeanine and Karen sitting at a nearby table, glancing over at them between whispers.

“So, Toro, what’s the latest office gossip?” Gerard says, tilting his head towards the women in the corner.

“God, I’d forgotten all about them for one blissful second…” Ray says, glowering. “So, they finally figured out that I’m engaged to a man and that said man is also your brother. And they’re convinced that we’ve started some weird, incestuous homosexual harem.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?!”

Ray shakes his head. “Honey, I wish I was from the deepest depths of my soul.”

He just rolls his eyes and opens a new text from Frank.

 **Frankie <3:** _You got this, Baby Doll!_

Gerard smiles as he rests his head on his hands.

 **Gee:** _You are what keeps me going. Truly._

 **Gee:** _In other news, Karen is convinced that I’m possessed by the devil…_

 **Frankie <3: ** _???????_

 **Gee:** _She may have been spouting some bullshit about God hating The Gays the other day. And I may have replied “Hail Satan” in the deepest voice possible while rolling my eyes back in my head._

 **Frankie <3:** _This is why I love you._

He decides to tell Frank about their alleged “harem” later when he can explain it in person. Gerard eventually finishes his half of Ray’s sandwich and then spends the rest of his lunch break staring down Karen and making the most unsettling faces possible while she glances over nervously and crosses herself multiple times. Ray sits next to him, trying not to laugh and eventually joins in. The two of them go back to their desks, cackling.

Gerard finishes his last report with two hours left to spare and wanders over to the copier to print it out so he can hand it in to his boss. Like usual though, the damn thing isn’t working. He fights with the outdated piece of shit for twenty minutes before he finally prints out his report, although the price for it is a huge blow to his pride and a large ink stain on the front of his shirt. After dropping the bundle in Mr. White’s dropbox, Gerard wanders into the break room to get a drink of water, already annoyed and out of patience. So it’s only natural that Gary from sales is standing in front of the water cooler, guzzling water like he’s dying of dehydration. Gerard waits for a few minutes, clearing his throat loudly and shifting awkwardly before Gary turns around, makes eye contact with Gerard, and then turns around and continues to block the water cooler.

It’s the first time in his life Gerard has ever felt the desire to dropkick an eighty-year-old man.

Eventually, he gets his water and goes back to his desk to send out a few business emails and shoot the shit with Ray. He’s counting down the minutes now, and only has an hour and forty five minutes left to kill before he has to go meet Frank at the airport. He writes his emails, finishes filing his papers, reorganizes his entire desk, makes a chain out of paper clips that reaches to the floor, and watches a few cat videos until 4:00. He spends the rest of his shift playing trashcan basketball with Ray and earning a plethora of dirty looks from Jeanine. At 4:55, Gerard hurriedly packs up his things, says goodbye to Ray, clocks out, and makes a mad dash for the elevator before Jeanine can even shoot him yet another dirty look for leaving “too early.”

He loosens his tie as he runs to the bus stop, wind rushing through his hair, a giddy laugh bubbling up inside his chest. Gerard takes a seat by the window and can't stop grinning the entire ride to the airport. As Gerard steps off the bus, he can see Frank’s figure approaching through the glass doors of the entrance. It’s like a scene straight out of a movie as Gerard drops his things in a heap on the pavement and runs into Frank’s arms, picking him up easily and pulling him into a kiss.

All of the tension and stress from his day melts away instantly when their lips meet. Frank chuckles into Gerard’s mouth, brushing his nose against his cheek as he pulls away slowly.

“Hey,” he murmurs. “How ar-”

Gerard cuts Frank off with a deeper kiss and pulls him closer. When Frank finally pulls away, they’re both breathless.

—

Gerard insists on carrying Frank over the threshold of his- _their_ apartment when they get there. He protests feebly, but they’re both smiling like idiots. Frank doesn’t even have time to unpack his bag before Gerard is pinning him up against the wall in the entryway and kissing him. Frank giggles against his lips, hands pinned up against his own chest as he was in the process of taking off his jacket when he was ambushed.

“I missed you,” Gerard whispers, pressing their foreheads together, noses brushing.

Frank raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Really? Didn’t notice.”

“This place feels empty without you here. I thought I was going to lose it sleeping in a king-sized bed by myself.”

“Well, good thing I’m here to stay. You’re stuck with me now, Sweetheart.” Frank kicks off his shoes and wanders around the apartment, admiring the subtle changes Gerard has made since the last time he was here. He’s bought a few new pieces of furniture, but the major changes are in Frank’s things now peppered around the tiny space. His books are on the shelf mingled in with Gerard’s, his towels in the kitchen. His shirts are hanging next to Gerard’s in his closet, their toothbrushes side by side in the bathroom: Frank’s heart catches in his throat when he finds a painting of his grandmother’s hanging over the couch in the living room.

Gerard comes up behind him, wrapping his arms around Frank’s waist. “Do you like it, there? Your mother gave it to me the last time I visited her.”

Frank nods, teary-eyed, running his fingers over the gilded frame, as he gazes at the colorful depiction of two ravens in flight. “I loved this one when I was a kid. It hung in the kitchen in my mom’s first house. She always told me she would give it to me when I got a place of my own.”

“That’s so sweet.” Gerard pressed a kiss to his temple and Frank hummed.

“You know I- I never imagined that I would have this, a life, a future, a _home._  It always seemed like something so unattainable, like a distant daydream. And then I met you and… it was like a future built itself up around you and I-” Frank’s crying now and Gerard pulls him tighter against his chest. They both stand there holding each other for a while before Gerard insists that shouldn’t spend the night moping when they can be celebrating.

Gerard spends the night cooking dinner while Frank unpacks the last of his things, talking happily to his boyfriend over the thrum of the record player and the sound of pots and pans clanking together. After all of the emotions are out of the way, Gerard is reminded of how easily he and Frank fit together as a unit. Domesticity comes far too easy for them, and he’s immensely grateful for it.

Frank is sitting on the living room floor, sorting through his records and trying to decide which one he wants to play next when Gerard sits down next to him and hands him a glass of wine, which he takes happily. They sit together in comfortable silence for a while, until Frank notices an old photo Gerard has placed on the entertainment stand.

He laughs as he leans forward to pick up the frame and runs his fingers over the glass fondly. “I remember when this was taken. The day that I met your parents.”

Gerard snorts and rolls his eyes as he scoots closer to Frank to look at the photograph. It was Thanksgiving, so the world was on fire behind them, even though the sky was gray and the clouds heavy with rain. To the outside viewer, it was just a photograph of two men smiling happily in their car. But seconds before that picture was taken, Gerard had confessed his love for Frank for the first time, which explains their goofy smiles.

“I don’t know what my dad was more offended by, your tattoos or the fact that I had the audacity to bring home a _vegan_ for Thanksgiving.”

Frank giggles. “Hey, at least he didn’t seem to care that you brought home your _boy_ friend.”

“God, I didn’t hear the end of it after I drove you home. He couldn’t stop talking about how you were a “punk” who was “no good for me.” But he got over it eventually.”

“I still don’t think he’ll ever accept the fact that I’m a vegan, though…”

“Small victories, I guess,” Gerard says with a goofy grin as he pecks Frank’s lips softly.

He could remember the very beginning when it seemed that everyone in their lives had something to say about their relationship. Frank’s friends hated Gerard, and Gerard’s family had absolutely hated Frank. They were “polar opposites” and “no good for each other.” Frank was “troubled,” a “thug.” Gerard was “spacey,” “naive,” “unreliable.” But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter what anyone said or thought, they both knew the truth.

“I love you, Gerard. Endlessly.” Frank murmurs.

Gerard just smiles and cups Frank’s face in his hands. “I love you more.”

As the light starts to fade, Gerard pulls Frank into his arms and holds him, savoring the peaceful quiet. For the first time in months, everything feels right and the color starts to to return to Gerard’s world. They sit in the glow of fading day, music playing softly, hearts beating loudly, content with the simplicity of it all.

It’s Frank who eventually breaks the silence when he says softly: “It feels good to finally be home.”

Gerard can’t agree more.

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this one in a night but I've actually had the idea for a while. It's based on the song "Ours" by Taylor Swift and the music video for it (which is fucking adorable btw). Her music and this song and particular were a very big part of my formative years as a young queer person exploring love for the first time haha. She's such a good songwriter and storyteller it's very easy for me to get inspiration for stories by listening to her songs.
> 
> It's nothing but fluff but I refuse to apologize because this one was really fun to write. I promise I'll be updating "Band Candy" and "On Top of the World" soon, I just need a break from my long-form stories from time to time. And I do that by... writing more, obviously! ;D Anyways, I hope you enjoy! <3


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